Thinis

 

The claim

There is an ancient Egyptian city hidden under the sands

 

Out of all the ancient lost cities of the world there is something that makes Egyptian ones more interesting than the rest. Perhaps its the stunning architecture or the immense scale of their settlements, whatever it is ancient Egyptian cities hold more mysteries than any other, and with Egyptian ruins being found every few years there’s the real possibility that this one might also be found, but why do people think it exists in the first place?

 

An ancient Egyptian historian named Manetho wrote of 3 cities along the Nile who fought for dominance between the years 3100 and 3000 BC. These cities were Nekhen, Thinis and Naqada and history written in hieroglyphs tells of how Thinis conquered Naqada, but makes no mention of Nekhen though it is believed that it forged with Thinis at some point.

 

History then talks about a period of relative calm where a single ruler named Menes was named the first Pharaoh to rule under the divine right.

 

With the expansion of Menes empire the seat of the ruling council moved to the city of Memphis and Thinis slowly became less and less important. It is generally believed that the city was eventually abandoned for some reason, as there is evidence of other such Egyptian settlements in the region of the Nile where the course of the river has changed over time and forced the inhabitants to relocate, and perhaps this is the case with Thinis.

 

Whatever the reason it was abandoned all of the riches would have been moved, except those within tombs and certain sacred areas. It was also quite common to take some of the more details construction pieces, such as statues and intricately carved stone works.

 

However ancient Egyptian cities where known to be quite large and there would undoubtedly be many foundations and most likely a temple, though to this day not only has no one found it but there isn’t actually any evidence that it exists. So far it has only appeared in mention through hieroglyphics. The ruler Menes has a reasonable amount of evidence for his existence though, most notable the “the Narmer tablet” discovered in 1897 by British archaeologists, with Narmer being the other name he was known by.

 

Various expeditions have been conducted to find the ancient city but as of yet no one seems to have come close, though this isn’t a surprise. Normally when ancient ruins are found in Egypt they are buried well underground, covered in many feet of sand with no indication above ground of their presence.